On Monday, October 23, Mike Phelps of Franklinton was looking forward to a "low-key" day.
Program Manager with Louisiana Probation and Parole, he was happy to return to his office in Covington after the Washington Parish Free Fair. He planned to answer emails and basically slow down.
Earlier in the morning, longtime co-worker Robert Hall, a firearms instructor, had been at the office and left to conduct a range session in Vacherie. Mike and Robert are not only coworkers for 25 years but they were also in the Air National Guard together. The men at Probation and Parole are a close-knit group. All have worked together for upwards of 20 years, shared offices, and conducted firearm and other tactical trainings along with their work with parolees and those on probation.
About mid-morning, co-worker Joseph "Joey" Cotton received a page via intercom. It was an emergency. Then there was another page, again an emergency. Joey told Mike and coworker David Dean that Robert Hall had been in an accident, and they had to go immediately. All Joey knew what that Robert was hurt badly.
The three men took off to I-55 near Manchac having no idea what they were about to encounter. They went with lights and sirens all the way.
South of Hammond the fog was very dense and even though they were driving with lights and sirens, they were only able to go about 40 mph and that was pushing it in those conditions. They went as far as they could on I-55 and then diverted to Highway 51 South, which runs underneath the elevated interstate.
They would later learn that Robert's car had caught fire and his cell phone burned. The car itself burned to nearly nothing. Robert was lucky that an off-duty emergency room nurse named Ms. Darla was at the scene. She was on her way to a class in New Orleans and began triaging all the injured along with EMT's.
Mike Phelps expressed his gratitude to Ms. Darla. She was ahead of the accident and could have kept going. Instead, she stopped, and her training kicked in. Ms. Darla apparently contacted Robert's wife and she forwarded the nurse's number to Joey. He called her and she told them Robert was hurt with a serious laceration on his head. However, at that time he was stable.
Meanwhile, Mike, Joey and David reached the scene on the lower road. They could see a tanker truck on fire on the elevated roadway and a truck that went over the bridge and was in the water below
. The probation officers' training kicked in and they began to assist the firemen at the scene. One tanker truck had 1,000 gallons of water and another was a "suction" truck.
However, there was not enough hose to reach the water and the suction truck was useless until more hose arrived.
Joey spoke with Nurse Darla again and she said Robert's situation was deteriorating, and it was critical that he get to an emergency room. In a split-second decision, Mike borrowed a spine board from a fire truck, and they rushed up I-55 north to reach Robert. At the time Mike did not realize the spine board had only one strap.
Going as far as they could, Mike grabbed his trauma bag and they climbed over the concrete median and began running towards Robert's position. David, who had a smaller car, was able to find a path through the cars and get closer than Mike's truck.
Mike described the scene as apocalyptic. As they ran, they were slipping in diesel and there was destruction all around them. Although he doesn't watch the show "The Walking Dead," he compared the scene to advertisements for episodes. People were dazed and bleeding. It was if a bomb had exploded.
They passed a Wildlife and Fisheries truck in the pileup, but the officer was not badly hurt. Joey, Mike, and David finally reached Robert and were taken aback at his injuries. Besides the wound to his head, they thought his legs and/or pelvis might be broken. It was not a good situation. An Acadian ambulance EMT was assisting Nurse Darla in the triage.
Robert was conscious and immediately asked his co-workers to secure his weapon from his car. Mike later recalled that there was nothing left of the rifle from the fire. State Police found a bolt from the rifle. But Robert, even while badly injured, was following protocol and knew he needed to make sure the weapon was retrieved.
The men considered the situation and decided to put Robert on the spine board and get him to the hospital. They realized they only had one strap, but miraculously another strap was lying nearby. They aren't sure where it came from, but they were happy to find it.
Mike's phone confirmed they were at the scene for thirteen minutes. The nurse and EMT said Robert needed to get to a hospital NOW! They carried him as far as they could. They hoisted him over the median again into the north bound lane. There they saw a rolling stretcher from an ambulance about 30 yards away. They took the stretcher and ran, pushing it while David carried the attached EKG machine. Luckily David was able to get closer, but it was about a half mile to his car. They lifted Robert over the divider again and another good Samaritan, wearing boots and cowboy hat, stepped in and helped them get Robert to David's car.
The spine board was too long to close the doors so they put him on top of the trunk. They ran behind the car holding him on to the trunk until they reached Mike's truck. The bed was full of training equipment that they quickly moved it to accommodate the spine board. Their plan was to get back to the staging area to an ambulance. But there were none there. So, they tied the spine board down with parachute chord and decided to take Robert to nearby North Oaks Hospital in Hammond themselves. They pulled the cover over Robert and Joey, covered Robert with a jacket and made the 15-mile trip to the ER.
At North Oaks there were already ambulances and victims in the emergency room. Later they learned Robert had no broken bones, but he did have a major concussion, a brain bleed, and a huge laceration on his forehead. Mike said the ER staff was awesome.
Robert has since been released from the hospital after a stay in ICU.
Robert's wife Jennifer posted their story and her gratitude on Facebook and the three men have been interviewed by two television stations and other news outlets. However, something Mike emphasized is that there were hundreds of first responders on the scene who did so much. There were civilians involved who were not hurt who were treating strangers. There were so many positives on a day when sadly seven families lost loved ones.
Mike feels a renewed sense of hope in the good that people possess. Parole and Probation officers aren't usually in a uniform. Robert wasn't and people helped him because he needed it and not because he was in law enforcement.
Ultimately, the three men did what they had to do, and all believe Robert would have done the same for one of them.
Mike recalled a moment when he hurriedly called his wife to let her know where he was. He didn't want her to wonder if he was an accident victim as well.
When he left the office, he thought they would likely meet Robert at the hospital, and he had no idea what he would witness. Luckily, the three men's collective training and experience paid off. They had to improvise and figure out what to do in a chaotic environment and thankfully Robert survived his injuries.
Mike has rehashed the incident quite a few times and is ready to put it behind him. He gifted Robert with a piece of the parachute chord to remember the day with. However, he emphatically stated, "The Lord was with us --- no doubt." Finding the extra strap, finding the gurney, Nurse Darla, the cowboy who helped and even being able to find Robert amid the chaos --- it was all the work of God, Mike said.
Mike, David, and Joey's story is a testament to friendship and the selflessness of law enforcement. While Mike is saddened by the casualties in the fog disaster, he is moving forward with a renewed sense of faith in people and God.
Mike Phelps is the son of Gary and Barbara Phelps of Isabel and the son-in-law of Richard and Vicki Knight of Franklinton. He is married to Emily Knight Phelps and has three sons, Sammy, Wyatt, and Eli.
